A Virginia family that was in a high-rise in Japan when the earthquake hit last week spent thousands of dollars to get home, but they're getting some of that money back.
“It was a terrifying experience,” Jean Edwards said. “I looked at my colleague and he looked at me and he reached out and grabbed my hand. We held hands and I looked at him. I thought, 'we’re going to die'.”
For the past 15 years, Edwards, a patent attorney, has visited Tokyo to meet with her clients. Last week, she decided to bring her son, Max. But on Friday when the massive earthquake hit, she was stuck at an office building in the middle of a meeting, and the family was separated.
“The building was swaying so much I felt like we were going to slide out the windows,” Edwards said. "It actually tilted and I thought the conference table was going to slide out with me with it.”
Once everything calmed down, Edwards scrambled to find her son, who was waiting it out back in the hotel stairway with the rest of the guests.
That was just the beginning of their travel nightmare.
On Sunday morning, three aftershocks rocked Tokyo, Edwards said. Coupled with the threat of the nuclear reactor leak spreading, the family decided it was time to get on a flight and head home.
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“I thought better to leave now while you can,” Edwards said. “I think most foreigners thought that way.”
At the airport, they were greeted with lines of tourists and a roadblock: Their return tickets weren’t dated until Tuesday. Edwards said she asked All Nippon Airways to exchange it with their Star Alliance Partner United Airlines, which had room on a flight leaving that day.
“If ANA endorsed the tickets over to United, United would accept our tickets and get us out,” Edwards said. “But ANA refused. We asked why can’t we get on another flight anywhere else going anywhere. They said no.”
The family was able to get on that United Airlines flight but at a hefty price tag. Two one-way tickets in coach cost almost $11,000.
“It’s very disheartening,” Max said. “To think that in a crisis situation where there are people just trying to get out to survive, companies like this take advantage of it. “
We reached out to ANA who had this response:
"ANA deeply apologizes for the inconvenience and stress caused to Ms. Edwards. We have officially initiated the investigation on her case to find out exactly what happened in Tokyo.”
And after NBC Washington contacted United Airlines, it also initiated an investigation. NBC Washington has learned that United Airlines reviewed the case and, under the circumstances, will refund the family $2,500 per ticket.
